And, of course, in addition to the browser, we have the huge adoption of the Chromebook and what it means for the classroom.

I was off to explore. One of the articles that I had read talked about the “Coding with Chrome Extension”; I was running Opera at the time and so didn’t see it as an issue. Well, it was … Coding with Chrome is not an extension; it’s a Chrome Application and so it needs access to the Chrome base. No problem here – I just switched browsers and installed the application.

Upon running, I was pleased to see the easy to navigate interface. This definitely has education and home users in mind.

With both a Beginner and Advanced Mode, there’s a little something there for any coding learner. I also like the message there that coding isn’t just dragging and dropping blocks; there is more and users will see it every time they launch the application. (unless they turn it off but why?)

I did the typical first run, kick at the tires, things. I went into my old friend Blockly and checked out the provided “Hello World” program to get an idea as to just how this would work. And it worked very nicely.

There’s a familiar command set.

I was up and running, dragging components into the workspace quickly. A toggle flips you in and out of regular text editor. I know that it’s the geeky me talking but it was fun programming. Who wouldn’t love it? You’re not limited to just coding on the screen. My friend Sphero has a connection here as well as others noted on the developers’ website.

They’re clear that Coding with Chrome is in Beta. That doesn’t seem to be as big an issue these days. Everything is in beta it seems with all the updates that are pushed to use daily. I wouldn’t stop that from installing this to see if it has a purpose for you.

From Beginner to Advanced, screen to devices, this seems to be taking aim at a big part of the coding and making environments.

If you’ve downloaded and played around with it, I’d really like to hear your thoughts. Please respond below.